RE: Re: sightings
Roy Winslow
Friday, June 14, 2002 12:37 AM
The
aborted Bristram project by the former Queensland National Party Govt proposed
to use substantial sections of former track as an economy measure. One downfall
of this in the Brisbane context would be the limitations on tramcar geometry due
to the relatively smaller track centres carried over from the horse tram days.
OTOH, much of Brisbane's track was in mass concrete and track replacement
continued until 12 months before closure, so a lot of the track lurking under
the bitumen in Brisbane would certainly not be classed as life expired. In 1990,
it was estimated that about half the system was still under bitumen. It was much
cheaper to seal over the top than remove the track entirely and the job could be
done much quicker in an environment where there was considerable community
objection to the replacement of the trams. For instance, the track in Pitt
Street, Sydney, last used on a Saturday night in 1957 was completely covered
over by nice new bitumen by the Monday morning, as boasted by the Sydney Morning
Herald!
Roy
-----Original Message-----I guess it depends on why the track was buried, rather than ripped up, in
From: Brent Efford [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 5:18 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [TramsDownUnder] Re: sightings
the first place. The usual reason (in NZ, anyway) is that the track was mass
concrete and therefore hard to rip up but providing a firm road surface if
sealed over. As long as the rail was not too worn it should still provide an
OK track if cleaned up. OTOH, most city streets have been dug up for utility
repairs and renewals over the past few decades so even surviving buried
track has probably been destroyed. This is what happened to the Papanui Rd
track in Christchurch that the THS used for the horse tram week in 1964 and
was sealed over shortly thereafter.
Brent Efford
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Bolton [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, 14 June 2002 12:29 a.m.
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: sightings
On Thu, 13 Jun 2002 12:09:12 -0000, Greg wrote:
> Yes, many opportunites are often lost whilst others are taken up
> (Stockholm and Dallas where in both cases old uncovered track was re-
> used) unfortunately, it always seems to be the case of the former in
> Australia!
The ability to reuse long buried track seems to be somewhat of an
urban myth.
I have visited McKinney Ave in Dallas. Very little of the "uncovered"
track was actually useable, and what was used was very rough riding,
to the point where it had to be replaced after only a few years of
use.
Cheers,
Bill
Bill Bolton
Sydney, Australia
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